Archive of Our Own ^beta

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1

during “The Spanish Teacher”

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Kurt and Mercedes sat side by side on Rachel’s bed, still slightly shell-shocked from her announcement that she was engaged to Finn. Rachel had left to go to the bathroom or get more popcorn or something, so they finally had a moment to talk to each other about it.

“They are so young!” Kurt exclaimed again. “I mean true love is great, but they are so young !”

Mercedes watched him fume for a moment, then quietly stated “you would say yes to Blaine, wouldn’t you.”

“What?” Kurt’s head snapped up, refocusing his attention to her.

“What Rachel said. If Blaine proposed to you tomorrow, you’d say yes, wouldn’t you.”

Kurt tried to blow it off. “Don’t be silly, Mercedes, we’re in high school, he wouldn’t…”

“I didn’t say he would, I said if he did . Stop avoiding the question Kurt. You’d say yes, wouldn’t you.”

Kurt met her gaze, and she stared him down until he had to look away. He thought back to when Blaine had given him the gum wrapper ring. He’d had a moment then of thinking that Blaine was proposing, and he’d been too caught up in the moment to even consider saying anything but...

“Yes,” he said softly. Then he cleared his throat. “I mean, I’m sure we wouldn’t get married for a long time. But if he proposed, yes, I would accept. I love him.”

“Exactly,” Mercedes smiled with satisfaction. “I thought so. Because sometimes you just know that someone is the right one.”

“Yeah,” Kurt agreed, a shy yet giddy smile spreading across his face.

“Sometimes you know, and then the real question isn’t an if , it’s a when .” She reached out and took Kurt’s hands in her own. “Well, and the question of who your attendants will be, of course.”

“Ha!” he smirked at her. “Are you saying that you should be my best maa-uh-aid of honor?” he stammered, rolling the phrases together.

“Well, I’m definitely not saying no if you ask me.”

“Oh my god Mercedes, you can’t plan my wedding yet, I’m not even engaged!” He playfully shoved her shoulder.

“Yet!” she said pointedly.

“Shut up!”

“Uh-huh,” she teased.

“Mercedes,” his voice had suddenly gotten very serious.

“What?” her tone matched his.

“Don’t tell Rachel we talked about this, ok?”

Mercedes held out her pinkie and he linked it with his own. “Whatever you want, babe.”

“Thanks, I don’t want her to tease me about it.”

Mercedes giggled. “I don’t want to have to fight her for the role of best maid of honor!”

They both collapsed in laughter.

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2

after “On My Way”

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Finn was sitting on his bed, back against the wall and feet pulled up in front of him. Just a few hours earlier Quinn had been in a car accident, and instead of getting married, Finn (and everyone else) had spent most of the evening pacing back and forth in a hospital waiting room. Now his suit jacket had been draped carelessly over the back of a chair with the tie dropped next to it, and his white shirt was all unbuttoned revealing the undershirt beneath it. He wrapped his hands around his knees and stared at his thumbs.

There was a gentle rap at the door.

“It’s open,” Finn called without looking.

The door slowly opened and Kurt’s head peeked around the side of it. “Hey Finn, can I come in?”

“Hey,” Finn responded, “Yeah, you can sit…uh...” he gestured vaguely around the room and then realized that his clothes were on the chair (and he knew Kurt wouldn’t sit on top of clothing).

Kurt slipped through the door, closing it softly behind him, and plopped unceremoniously on the bed beside his brother. Their arms brushed together as he sidled in.

“How are you holding up?” he asked softly.

“Ughhhh,” was Finn’s eloquent response as he grabbed a throw pillow and smashed it into his face.

“Yeah, I figured.” Kurt sat there by him without speaking for a while. He knew that sometimes silent support meant more to Finn than talking.

Eventually he cleared his throat.

“I know I kept saying that you were too young to get married,” Kurt began, “but I did support you. You know that, right?”

“Yeah dude, I did.” Finn’s eyes twinkled and his quirky half-smile appeared for a moment before melting away again.

“And you know I will still be there, later, when you do get married.”

“Yeah, I know.” Finn smiled again, and it lasted longer this time. “Actually, I think next time we try this we should do it a little more formally,” (Kurt nodded his approval), “and you’ll be my best man.”

“Because Puck is your best friend, but he would give a really embarrassing toast speech,” Kurt agreed.

“Exactly!” Finn laughed. “Besides, I’ve only got one brother, and he’s kind of great.” He held up his fist for Kurt to bump.

Kurt brought his up as well, meeting Finn in the familiar gesture before looking away and growing quiet again for a time. When he spoke, his voice was soft.

“You know I want you to be mine too, right?” Kurt said, staring intently at the wall. “I mean someday…”

“What?” Finn had been lost in his own thoughts again, and seemed startled to remember that he was not alone.

“I want you to be my best man too,” Kurt repeated, turning toward him. “When I get married, which I’m sure will be years away,” he added with a sideways glance that made Finn grin. “But still, when the time comes, I want you standing beside me.”

“Absolutely. Furt forever, right?”

Kurt couldn’t hold in the chuckle. “Yeah, Furt forever,” he gasped as Finn squeezed him into a tight embrace.

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3

during “All or Nothing”

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“Nuh-uh, Blaine, you’re way too young to get married,” Sam repeated as they walked down the hallway after school.

“Age is irrelevant, he’s the one and I’m ready.” Blaine could tell that Sam wasn’t on board with this yet so he tried another tack. “I’d like you to be my best man, Sam.”

“But--what?” Sam’s train of thought derailed as Blaine’s words registered with him.

“You’re my best friend, besides Kurt of course.”

Sam nodded.

“So I want you be my best man.”

“Like in your wedding.” Sam stopped walking, and Blaine turned to face him.

“Yes, in my wedding,” Blaine laughed.

“You’re serious.”

“Yes, I’m serious.”

“Oh my god.”

Blaine’s smile widened and he tilted his head in that puppy-dog way of his.

“Oh my god! Blaine!”

“What?”

“You can’t just ask me a thing like that!”

“Why not?” Blaine teetered between confused and hurt now. How could Sam be upset over this.

“You’re not even dating Kurt right now, but you’re asking me to be your best man for a wedding that you don’t even know if it will happen. That’s weird, dude.”

“Kurt is the love of my life Sam.”

“I know, but you’re broken up.”

“I know, but--” Blaine shook his head. On some level he tried to avoid remembering that detail. It was just a troublesome detour in the journey. A tiny detail. Well, ok, a big detail. But soon it wouldn’t even matter anymore. It would go away. Because he was getting Kurt back, and then he was going to marry him.

“Blaine!” Sam snapped his fingers in front of his friend’s face, pulling him back into the present.

“What.”

“Look, get Kurt back first, ok? I’m totally behind you on that. Then ask me about it again.”

Blaine grinned. “Ok.”

Sam clapped him on the back. “Ok!”

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4

after “Love, Love, Love”

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Blaine’s phone had been ringing off the hook all day, one person after another congratulating him on the engagement, to the point where he wasn’t even looking at the caller ID anymore. “Hello?”

“Blainey!” the enthusiastic voice on the other end of the line gushed, “you’re engaged!”

“Hi Cooper,” Blaine said tiredly. “Yes, Kurt said yes.”

“I’m so excited!” Cooper exclaimed. “I mean, now that it’s official, I should probably start making plans. Do you have a date picked yet? Because I figure I will need at least two weeks off so that I can come there and manage the bachelor party and all the other last minute things.” Cooper was rattling along rapidly, and it occurred to Blaine that he was talking to himself more than to his brother.

“Um, Coop?”

“Or will you need me before then?” Cooper continued. “I could come out sooner, if you need help with figuring out tuxes or something. Oh please tell me you’re not letting Kurt decide all the clothes ,” he interrupted himself. “I know he’s into fashion and everything but a wedding is a time to be classic , not a time to be trendy.”

“Cooper!” Blaine barked.

“Yeah?” Cooper’s response was so abrupt that Blaine could visualize him being off-balanced and having to flail his arms for a moment to regain his equilibrium.

“Cooper, I haven’t asked you to be my best man.”

“Well yeah, but you’re going to, so I thought I’d save you the trouble and just jump in and be helpful!” Cooper said brightly.

“Cooper.”

“What!”

“No.”

“What?” A hint of confusion entered Cooper’s tone.

“We got engaged this morning . We haven’t decided on a wedding party yet, ok?”

“Well yeah, but I’m your brother.”

“I know.”

“So naturally…”

“I don’t know Cooper. We haven’t decided yet,” Blaine said firmly. Then he softened. “Just let me enjoy this day for what it is, before I have to start actually planning anything, ok?”

Cooper laughed, throaty and whole-hearted. “Right, yeah, sorry.”

“It’s ok,” Blaine’s smile came through in his voice. “I’ll talk to you later, ok?”

“Ok. Bye!”

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5

during “The Quarterback”

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Kurt sat on the front porch steps, staring at nothing and feeling empty. He played with the ring on his finger, twisting it back and forth and slipping it up and down between his knuckles. After a while a warm arm slid across his back and a gnarled hand clasped his shoulder.

“Hi dad.”

“Hi kiddo.” Burt was silent for a moment before continuing. “I thought you might like someone to sit with you.”

“Thanks.”

They sat quietly for a while, Burt gently stroking Kurt’s back from time to time, until a loud sniffle from Kurt broke the silence.

“I was going to ask him to be my best man you know,” Kurt murmured.

“Huh?”

“I was planning to ask Finn to be my best man,” Kurt repeated. “We were both going to be each other’s best man, I’m pretty sure. We had talked about it since your wedding actually. We had joked about it usually, teasing each other, but we both knew we meant it.”

“I know.” Burt’s crooked smile was small, but genuine.

“Wait, you knew? Did he tell you?”

“No, but after he danced with you at my wedding, I had a feeling that someday he’d want to dance with you at yours.”

Kurt’s breath stuttered as he drew it in.

“Do you really think so?”

“Finn loved you, Kurt. So yeah, I really think so.”

“I loved him too, dad,” Kurt said, turning in his father’s arms to burrow his head into the safety of that familiar chest. “I love him still.”

“I know kiddo,” Burt replied, rubbing Kurt’s back roughly but avoiding the carefully coiffed hair that he would have mussed had his son been younger. “He would have been so happy for you guys.”

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+1

sometime during the engagement

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Blaine threw his hands up into the air in exasperation and stood up, stepping away from the couch and the coffee table littered with color swatches and wedding magazine clippings.

“My god Kurt, of course I care about the details, but how much does it really matter if the ribbons on the centerpieces are ecru or eggshell ?! Nobody except you can even tell the difference!”

“It’s the moral of the thing, Blaine!” Kurt exclaimed. He held up a short bit of ribbon. “What color is this?”

“Eggshell,” Blaine answered automatically.

“See!” Kurt exclaimed triumphantly, “You can tell the difference, you just don’t care.”

Blaine came back around the coffee table and sat facing Kurt, taking the ribbon out of his hands and returning it to the pile, and taking the other man’s hands in his own.

“I do care, Kurt. I care very much about this wedding. Because I care about marrying you. But no, I don’t really care what color of ribbon is on the centerpieces, because that’s not the important thing here. And it’s hard for me to see you getting so stressed and spending so much energy on some of these tiny details. You have enough to do. Maybe we can leave some of those choices up to the other professionals. I’m sure the florist can pick perfectly good ribbons.”

“Maybe we should just throw it all out the window and elope,” Kurt suggested sarcastically.

“Maybe we should,” Blaine shot back.

Kurt’s head snapped up.

Blaine froze.

They stared at each other for a long moment.

“Wait, do you really think we should…” Kurt started.

“I hadn’t considered it before but maybe…” Blaine said at the same time.

Kurt’s eyes got wide and Blaine took a deep breath, plopping back on the couch beside his love. They reached for each other’s hands automatically.

“Well that’s something,” Blaine muttered finally.

“Can you imagine…” Kurt agreed.

They stared at each other again, eyes searching one another’s faces, and finding there all the answers they needed.

“There’s no way…”

“My family would lose it.”

Grins broke out simultaneously.

“I think we need a break from this wedding planning before one or both of us has a nervous breakdown and does something drastic,” Kurt proposed.

“You mean like eloping?” Blaine winked back.

“Yes!” Kurt almost shrieked, hopping up. “This is an emergency situation, and it most definitely calls for cheesecake.”

“Or ice cream?” Blaine prodded.

“Or cheesecake ice cream,” Kurt confirmed, opening the freezer. “It’s a good thing we have some left.”

Blaine chuckled. “In fairness Kurt, we always keep that on hand.”

“Um-hmm,” Kurt mumbled, a spoon clutched between his lips as he pried the lid off the container. “For emergencies of course.”

“Of course,” Blaine nodded somberly. “One should always be prepared.”

Kurt crossed the room and set the ice cream lid on the coffee table. “Here,” he offered, handing the spoon to Blaine as he wriggled into the cuddly place beside him. “You can have the first bite.”

“ Kurt , ” Blaine whispered urgently.

“What?!” Kurt asked with sudden concern.

“ I think the ice cream is ecru colored .”